


Across and Beyond

by Sonko



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure Time with PJ and Fresh, Again not good role models, Aliza also has a speech disorder, Aliza takes art, Alternate Universe - Horrortale, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Be also prepared for feels, Because I have no order to this, Blueberry and Paps aren't good role models either, Chara is a little shit, Frisk and Asriel are the only saving grace, Gen, Gender-Neutral Chara, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Horror Sans and Pap are now her uncles, Illustrations, Jk they're also little shits, Other Universes Later, Other characters will be added as chapters continue, PJ has parental issues, Paperjam and Fresh are bros, Prepare for funnies, Salty PJ is the best PJ, She can still talk but only selectively, That's right he's supposed to be a jerk, They got kids following them, They're not the best role models, Universe Travel, first fanfic, there will be drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-05 06:02:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10299230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonko/pseuds/Sonko
Summary: Sometimes, Paperjam wonders how the hell his life got to this point. He ponders this even when he knows the answer himself. As always, Fresh is to blame.Why is life no longer so peaceful nowadays? Fresh.Why does he feel the need to bang his head against the wall even though it’ll only cause the seemingly endless migraine to worsen? Fresh, again.How in the fuck did they suddenly end up becoming babysitters?If you haven’t guessed at this point, it was Fresh.In other words, Paperjam gets forced out of his lonely void bubble to interact for once in his goddamn life.





	1. Snowballs and Ink Stains

**Author's Note:**

> Hey yo! New to Archive all the way from Fanfiction.net so I'm still a bit confused here lol. But anyway, I've been wanting to make an account here for a while so I'm glad I got that done.
> 
> Anyway, this is my first Undertale fic and at first, I wanted to do a more complex action-based au story with PJ, but then I was like, nah got too much work to do. It'll be for a comic soon anyway. So I'm settling for drabbles instead. 
> 
> This is unbeta'ed btw, but still, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Sometimes, Paperjam wonders how the hell his life got to this point. He ponders this even when he knows the answer himself. As always, Fresh is to blame.

Why is life no longer so peaceful nowadays? Fresh.

Why does he feel the need to bang his head against the wall even though it’ll only cause the seemingly endless migraine to worsen? Fresh, again.

How in the fuck did they suddenly end up becoming babysitters?

If you haven’t guessed at this point, it was Fresh.

If you’re pondering that last bit, yeah, apparently that’s what happens when your ‘best bro’ drags you to travel with him across the multiverse, because, and this is by the words of Fresh himself,

_“Living the rest of your days in the void doing nothing but mope around eating junk and watching k-pop music videos to drown out the sadness of your neglected parents is unfresh and unhealthy. So my radical brosef, I’ve decided some exercise universe-hoppin’ travel is just the treatment you need to get rid of your sack of depression.”_

Well fuck him.

And he’s not depressed and he does not mope!

And k-pop is awesome!

At first the idea was okay. It was just them hopping across the multiverse just to fuck around, pull pranks, and wreak havoc onto the people living in them. Paperjam didn’t have much knowledge of the many AUs that exist, not since giving up trying to live up to anything close to what his fathers are able to do. Yeah, not getting into that feels trip.

The point is, somewhere along the way, a few kids from different universes, with the help of Fresh (the bastard), decided to wedge themselves into Paperjam’s life, uninvited. 

And now…

“Head’s up Inkface!”

A ball of snow smacks the side of his face, the cold and wet feeling unpleasant. Childish laughter erupts and Paperjam growls. This snowball fight game somehow went from two-on-two to three-on-one, resulting with the ink skeleton left alone to fend for himself against three brats, one of them having betrayed him.

Then again, Chara was never a reliable partner to begin with so why should he even be surprised?

He had to up his defenses at this point, which isn’t a problem for him. Defense is always his strong point. The problem is retaliating with his own snowball attacks. The little buggers move too quick to land a hit and there’s also the fact that he’s. Fuckin’. **Outnumbered.**

The game continues with absolutely no success on his part until eventually, he’s found himself surrounded.

Frisk, from the original Undertale universe, stands before him with a readily equipped snowball in hand while their brother, Asriel, and Chara from Underswap appear in the corners of his vision. Both also having snowballs equipped. Taking note of this and also noting how nearly all of his strength has wiped out, it’s safe to say that he’s lost this one.

Frisk smiles up at him triumphantly. “So PJ, are you ready to admit defeat?”

The skelinkton huffs tiredly and raises his hands in surrender. “Yeah yeah, no need to act all smug. It wasn’t even a fair fight to begin with.”

“And yet you’ve managed to hold your one man army to the end,” says Chara. “That was admirable at least.”

“Gee, thanks traitor.”

“You are so welcome.”

“Still, even if you were by yourself, it was really hard to land a hit on you!” Asriel attempts to try and lift his spirits up a bit.

“Eh.” Paperjam shrugs his shoulders, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. Right now he desires a nap, too tired to even want to stand for too long.

He would’ve started to fall asleep standing up had it not been for the sound of two sets of feet crunching on snow coming his way from behind.

“Another radtastical snowball fight my brah!” Fresh swings an arm around PJ’s shoulders. “Seeing you continue to fight despite the epic betrayal was an awe-inspiring sight to see.”

Paperjam rolled his eyes. “Sure. You know, it really would’ve been nice if backup showed at my time of need.”

At this, the 80’s knockoff chuckled. “Yeah, I would’ve loved to come and help a bro out, but I couldn’t resist watching the young sista crank out her talented sketches man.”

There was a gentle tug on Paperjam’s sleeve and the ink skeleton glanced down to find Aliza, who had been sitting at the sidelines with Fresh, drawing in her sketchbook. The little girl held out the book to him with her two hands.

“Oh. You want me to see?” The girl nods and he had to chuckle at her enthusiasm. “Alright. Let’s see what you got.”

“Hey we wanna see too!” Frisk says.

“Yeah!” Asriel follows, and the three kids gather closely at either side as Paperjam opens the book.

“You’re gonna love it bro,” Fresh grins. “Lil’ Aliza managed to capture your most memorable moments on the battlefield.”

PJ didn’t like that grin. A grin like that usually meant misery and misfortune is in store for him and there’s nothing he could do about it. He decides to ignore it and find the newest page Aliza drew in.

Upon seeing it, nothing but silence dragged for a few seconds as they analyzed the page before the kids doubled-over, nearly falling into the snow, laughing hard. Paperjam only stood still and stared blankly at the page filled with sketches of him. They mostly consist moments of him getting pelted with snowballs. There was a particular one where he was hit dead-on in the face, courtesy of Chara. He’s come to learn that Chara really likes aiming at his face for some reason.

“Now **_that_** is art!” said kid hollered between laughs.

“Ten-outa-ten!” Aseriel said next.

“High quality hang-on-the-fridge material!” Frisk shouted last.

Even Fresh couldn’t contain it anymore once looking at Paperjam’s face and laughed along with them. At least Aliza had some modesty/pity and hid her mouth to hide her giggles.

Yeah, this is his life now. He went from lonely solitude to becoming the butt of jokes for the kids’ entertainment. He could just imagine Error mocking him.

“So what’s your critique on this one? You are the main star after all~” Fresh wiggles his brows and PJ had half a mind to pelt him with ink instead of snow and tell him to rot in the deepest pits of hell…

But then he glanced at Aliza’s face…

Which was a huge mistake because her cheeks were flushed rosy red from holding back her laughter, and she’s giving him that hopeful smile whenever she’s expecting  praise for something she did. He did _kinda_ adopt her as his pupil, so this is expected.

But god dammit he’s supposed to be mad!

But he finds his anger slowly melting away the longer he stares at that cute little smile. Who could be mad at that face?! It took a lot of willpower not to just pick the child up and hug the life out of her, but PJ was able to fight the urge and instead, ruffled the locks on Aliza’s head.

“As always, you did good kid.” He smiles at her. Aliza is quite talented indeed. And despite them being sketches of him looking like an idiot losing to a bunch of kids, he doesn’t look bad in them.

Aliza whines at how much of a mess he’s making her hair look and tries to remove his hand, making an angry pout.

“Aww, no hug this time?” Chara teases. “Don’t you _always_ give your wittle pupil _biiiiiig_ hugs to congratulate her for a job well done?”

He glares, because holy stars this kid. They are almost worse than Fresh.

“I don’t always give hugs!”

“Yes you do.” Practically everyone says in unison. Aliza nods her head.

Seeing Paper’s staggered look, Fresh says, “Dude, you do it all the time. You don’t even bother to hide it either. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

Okay so maybe he has hugged Aliza many times. He just didn’t think he’s done it so frequently. He never had a student before, and sure he’s not as good as Ink, but having someone look up to you and desire to learn from you is an amazing feeling. No one can fault him for that! But still, talk about embarrassing…

He hides his flushed face in his hands in shame. Yet another thing everyone can poke fun at him for. And he only has himself to blame.

He feels another tug at his sweater and Aliza was gazing at him expectantly now. She held her arms out and even stood at the tips of her new shoes in an attempt to reach his height. Her cheeks puffed, conveying her silent demand.

Wow. Maybe he has spoiled her with hugs a little too much. The fact just made this even more embarrassing.

“Come on, you heard the lady,” Frisk encourages, grinning big.

“Yeah, don’t leave her hangin’ bro. That’d be uncool.” Fresh nudges him, his eyebrow wiggles not stopping.

“Sh-Shut-up!” Paper shouts, his flushed face a more prominent CMY color scheme.

Aliza’s arms falter a bit. She wore a look of disappointment and sadness seeing that she won’t be receiving hugs anytime soon. Chara goes over and pats her shoulder.

“Don’t worry Aliza. Ink Face is just being shy. He’ll still give you a hug though. In fact…” They give Paperjam an impish smile. “I feel I could use a hug myself.”

PJ jolts, eyes wide.

Oh no.

“Hey Asriel, would you like a hug too?” Chara asks the goat prince.

Nononononono.

Asriel catches on and smiles big. “Yeah I would now that you’ve asked. How ‘bout you Frisk?”

Oh god please make the madness stop!

Frisk nods. “I would very much like a hug thank you. Would you like a hug too Fresh?”

Petrified, PJ shakes his head, silently messaging Fresh to not let this madness continue.

Fresh only grins and shrugs his shoulders.

“Nah, I’m good. You kids have fun tho.”

That backstabbing-

“Welp, more hugs for us then!” Chara boasts joyously. “Are we ready guys?”

PJ backs up as the kids begin to stalk closer to him.

“B-Back… I said stay back! Remember what happened last time? I’m warning you, I will- _oof!_ ”

His warnings fall to deaf ears as Aliza was the first to attack, aiming at his midsection while the others pile on over him. The onslaught of kids latching onto him heavily causes him to slip and fall painfully on his ass and back. Through the ringing in his ears, he hears the close proximity of the children’s giggles and picks up Fresh’s howls of laughter from not too far away.

Oh that’s it.

He warned them. And now they’re just asking for it.

Only seconds later, the kid’s suddenly shrieked. They quickly scrambled off and away from Paperjam, but it was far too late. Re-claiming his breathing space, PJ sits up and grins at the damage he’s done.

“Groooss.” Chara makes a face as he looks down at the ink stuck to his clothes. “I liked this jacket too…”

“Aw man, even my fur got caught!” Asriel whines.

“Ha! Serves you all right!” PJ puffs proudly. He’ll get shit for this later, but right now he feels too smug to care about any consequence that might befall on him.

“Uh, bro?” Fresh appears at his side and points to Aliza.

Confused, he faces her. And once examining her state of appearance, Paperjam began to instantly regret doing that. Because in the case of Frisk, Asriel, and Chara, none of them came in contact with him fully, so not much ink got on them.

Aliza on the other hand, had almost her entire body on him. And now, even her face and parts of her hair got caught in the black mess. The entire front of her clothes were massively soaked.

And that’s not even the worst part. What’s worse is that Toriel just bought her those clothes yesterday.

Ohhhh fuck. She’s going to be pissed.

Aliza stood silently, staring down at her ruined winter outfit. Whereas, Frisk, Asriel, and Chara looked to each other before impish grins appeared on their faces.

“MOOOOOOM!” Frisk shouts as they ran through the snowy fields, towards home. “PJ RUINED ALIZA’S NEW CLOTHES!”

“AND OURS TOO!” Asriel shouts with them while taking Aliza’s hand, leading her with him to follow Frisk.

“Well Ink Face, it was nice knowing you~” Chara gives a mock salute before running to catch up with them.

Paperjam could only watch as the kids slowly disappear from sight, knowing that it’ll take only a few minutes for them to reach Frisk and Asriel’s dwelling and even less time to find their mother, Toriel.

“Welp, you’re _royally_ screwed broski.”

PJ shoots a glare. “You know what Fresh? You can go **funk** yourself!”

…

…

“Haha lol.”

Fresh snickers and Paperjam _seethes_ , one eye twitching spastically as the ink in his core felt almost like a boiling hot kettle over a roaring fire. He feels he might explode with all the rage bubbling inside him. Today feels like one of those days where things don’t seem to be going his way. Those days seem to happen too often though, as far as his luck’s been treating him throughout his life.

Knowing it’s pointless to delay his doom any longer, he strides toward the kids’ home. Slowly.

But not before aiming a ball of ink to Fresh’s face. At the very least it was satisfying enough to see the impact knock off those stupid shades.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay, so I'm currently polishing up the second chapter. Don't know if I should make an illustration or two for it. Let me know!
> 
> Also, in case I get any backlash for Paperjam's personality traits, please refer to this tunblr post which contain words written by Paperjam's creator themselves, 7goodangel (as well as some extra words from their friend, CereusBlue, who created Omni (PJ's official gf for those who don't know)): [link](http://cereusblue.tumblr.com/tagged/give-respect-to-creators)
> 
> Edit: I accidentily deleted some words after this but basically, these creators received a lot of hate for their cannons and and it's to the point where people are forcing their headcannons to make others believe they're actually cannon when it's really not. Angel doesn't feel they're in control over **THEIR OWN OC** anymore and that's just not cool. 
> 
> Respect the creators. Respect their cannons. Plz no hate. Thank you.


	2. Malls and Grillby's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a [tumblr](http://keepingvisions.tumblr.com/) if you want to follow me!
> 
> Anyways, enjoy~

He was right. Toriel was furious. Even more so when she saw Aliza. No amount of detergent or special cleaning magic could erase those stains completely. Asriel was lucky enough to not need to have parts of his fur shaved off. Some clothes were salvageable while others couldn’t be saved and had to be thrown away. On record, this is the third time.

Feeling terrible, Paperjam promised to replace Aliza’s ruined clothes using his own money. Considering the type of universe the girl lives in, she hardly possesses anything to begin with. And try as Horror Sans might, clothing stores in Horrortale are just as sparse has finding mildly decent food.

Stars he fucked up big.

So he’s currently in a clothing store, wandering in the children’s section, searching for something fitting for Aliza while she, as well as the other three inked victims, wash up at home. He feels the eyes of passing humans stare at him, but he doesn’t pay mind to them, not unless they start something. That’s not what’s got him irritated though.

“So, you mind telling me why exactly you’re tagging along Classic?”

By ‘Classic’, he refers to Frisk and Asriel’s Sans, who strode casually beside him without a care in the world. Not even batting an eyesocket at the humans making faces at them.

Classic isn’t bad in PJ’s opinion, but like most Sanses, he’s not to be taken lightly. There’s no doubt in PJ’s mind that the moment Classic met both him and Fresh, as well as learning the existence of other universes and alternate versions of himself, Classic became curious.

So far, the questions he asked were general, such as universal travel, how it’s done, what kinds of universes are out there, how many have been discovered thus far, etcetera, etcetera. So far, he’s come to know the Swap and Horror universes, mostly because of Frisk and Asriel’s developed relationship with the humans in those universes. And in those universes, he was able to get along with the versions of himself and versions of his brother, Papyrus.

However, Paperjam couldn’t fail to notice the way Sans would eye him and Fresh respectively, analyzing both of them from afar. Going from the skeleton monster’s perspective, the two were a mysterious odd pair that has knowledge of the multiverse and can travel through them at will. It’s amazing he hasn’t yet asked exactly who they are and where they came from. Perhaps he was biding his time? Even if he does ask eventually, Paperjam wouldn’t be able to answer him. He’s not really a Sans so there’s really no connection the two can share. Plus, it’s none of his business.

As for Fresh, well his case is a whole bundle of complications that even confuses PJ sometimes. He knows _what_ he is, but that’s really all he knows. The guy’s got no background and Error can’t even erase him. He’s just _there_ basically.   

Classic shrugs, acting oblivious. “Oh nothing really. Just thought it be a perfect time to go out and _stretch my bones_. Also, to ease Toriel’s troubles, thought it be best to keep an eye on ya while you’re out shopping.”

“And why, pray tell, is that necessary? I’m not a child.”

“Never said you were. I don’t even know how old you are anyway. And I’m sure you’re very capable of taking care of yourself, but that’s not the issue here.”

“Then what?” Paperjam spots a row of designer cape coats set in a variety of colors and pushes his cart towards it.

“I’m sure you’re more than aware of the tension between humans and monsters here on the surface. Not sure how up-to-date you are on this though, but that tension has gotten worse in the past weeks. At first it was just fighting for basic equal rights, but then interspecies relationships got thrown into the mix and well, hell broke loose from there.” Sans spoke low as he talked about this, so as to not grab the attention of other shoppers.

Paperjam listened as he brought out two coats he liked, one dark purple and the other navy blue. “Okay. So what’s your point?”

“My point kid? Well, let’s just say the level of violence towards monsters have risen as well as the level of unfairness with the authorities. Undyne almost got sent to jail one time when she only acted out of defense to protect Alphys. She didn’t even use her spears, but the time it took to clear everything in court took longer than it should when all that happened was some guy attempted to rob one of my friends.”

The only obvious sign that expressed Classic’s vehemence was the pitch black in his eyes when he said this, reliving the memories. He sighs tiredly.

“That happened last week. Everyone’s still sore about it, still apprehensive. Nowadays, you got to be careful and going out alone isn’t always the best idea. It really doesn’t matter how strong of a monster you are, if you’re the nicest monster, or if you’re just innocently passing through to buy clothes. Humans can target any one of us if they want to. And they can get away with it.”

Sans, if possible, looked twice as tired. One can imagine the stress put on him, what with the worry over his dear brother and all of his friends.

“Woah, Classic… I…” Paperjam didn’t know what to say. Comforting people wasn’t his best trait (lacking in the social category) but he could feel his struggle, his pain. He sets the clothes down and carefully places a hand on Sans’ shoulder. “I’m really sorry that happened. They’re okay right?”

“Yeah. They’re fine.” Classic Sans forces his usual upbeat-lazy grin. “Heh. Sorry for dumping that sob story on ya. I only brought that up so you know we don’t want the same thing to happen to you. Your buddy Fresh as well. We care about you guys.”

Paperjam blinked. He didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Um, thanks I guess… for wanting to look after us.”

“Hey, it’s no problem kid.” He winks. “In a way actually, I should be thanking you.”

“W-Wha?” Paperjam stares at San’s like he’s grown a second head. “Why?”

Sans chuckles. “Well, that incident I mentioned earlier? It impacted a lot of us yes, but I’m sure none of us took it harder than Frisk. They are the ambassador to us monsters after all. They’re the ones who brought us to the surface. I guess they felt guilty they didn’t give us the life that we wanted or that living on the surface wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. They fought for Undyne at the court, even though they’re just a kid. It was probably the most stressful we’ve ever seen them. And even when the worst was over, the poor kid… they were just so depressed, so afraid too, for our safety.”

“I see…” Paperjam knew of Frisk’s position as ambassador. It’s a lot of baggage to carry for someone so young, especially when it comes to monsters just popping up and entering the humans’ everyday lives. Of course there are humans who aren’t going to just stand by and accept the change and Frisk has to deal with all of that. “Is… that the reason why you called us? The reason why you set up this whole sleepover thing so the kids could get together and spend time with each other?”

“Mm, for the most part, yeah. It has been a while since we’ve last seen you guys. Figured it’d be good for them. And I wouldn’t’ve had the idea- wait, no. None of this wouldn’t even be possible if Frisk hadn’t ran into ya. So, thanks for showin’ up.”

Paperjam snorts, though it did nothing to hide the flush on his face. “It’s not like I planned having the brat attach to me that day. It’s not my fault they were being nosy.”

“Oh yeah, Frisk said they caught you singing.” Sans grins. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah. Okay. This conversation is over.” He packs the two coats and pushes the cart, speed-walking away from the skeleton. Sans catches up.

“So when’s the next performance?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m sure your voice will be quite _bone-crushing_.”

“Go. Away!”

“You’ll make women’s hearts swell so big their ribs will break.”

“Sans you are dead to me!”

They chased around the store for a while, PJ stopping occasionally to pick up other clothing items he thought would complement well with the coats, before going to the register.

“How do you have money anyway?” Sans asked once they left the store. “Those coats you bought were quite pricey and I doubt you have a job, especially one that pays human currency.”

“But you don’t know that, do you Classic?” Paperjam gives a sideways grin.

“Huh. You’ve made a point there mister dark-and-mysterious. So, care to _throw me a bone_ or do I have to keep guessing?”

PJ rolls his eyes at the pun. “Fresh and I have our ways in making money, though we don’t necessarily need it. It’s mostly out of convenience and to relieve some boredom. We mostly get it out of doing shit on the internet, nothing special.”

Sans raises a skelebrow at that, but soon shrugs and presses for no further details on that.

“You know,” He says instead. “Grilby’s is nearby. Wanna stop for a bite? My treat.”

PJ ponders this. Almost all the Sanses seem to have that in common out of many things, them hanging at Grilby’s, with the exception of Undeswap Papyrus having Muffet’s, but it’s still the same.

“Sure, why not.” He would’ve turned the offer down, but had the sinking feeling that this Sans might need it, given what he’s been through.

Plus, it’ll give him time to finish his project.

So they took a short walk and entered the Snowdin favorite bar n’ grill. Sans, being here many times, took a seat at his usual spot at the main booth. Paperjam, unfamiliar with the place, just sat next to him, ignoring the other monsters giving curious stares.

“Yo Grilbz. I’ll have the usual if you don’t mind.” Classic says to the flame monster behind the counter and turns to PJ. “So whadaya want kid?”

“Just because you haven’t picked up on my age yet doesn’t mean you can call me kid. And I’m fine, thanks. I’ll be busy working on something while you eat.”

Classic shrugs. “Whatever you say kid.”

Paperjam sighs heavily, seeing that Sans will keep calling him that no matter what he says, and lets it be for now. He decides to focus on his project and takes out the materials stored in his inventory.

For a while, there was content silence between them, Sans sipping on bottles of ketchup while PJ keeps to himself, the bar filled with bustle chatter from other monsters (and some humans). Eventually, Sans lets his curiosity get the better of him and glances over to see what the other is doing.

He nearly chokes on the condiment. The sound nearly spooks PJ off the stool and he turns to Sans quickly.

“What?”

“S-Sorry!” He coughs roughly to get some air circulation going, then gives PJ a sheepish laugh. “Heheh. Didn’t mean to do that. Sorry. It’s just… I know you’re an artist and all but… I didn’t know you also like to knit.”

“Crochet. There’s a difference.” Paperjam corrects him, almost automatically. He stares down at his project, a long scarf sharing the same color of his own, but decorated with a rainbow of flowers that flow in a single row across the scarf from one end to the other. “It’s… for Aliza. Since I bought her clothes, I thought I may as well finish this and give this to her too.”

“Well that’s thoughtful of you.” Sans smiles and watches him work with the single hooked needle.

“You’re really good at that.”

The needlework abruptly stops and for a moment, Paperjams stills and says nothing. Sans sits confused and wonders if he said something that somehow triggered the guy. All he did was give a compliment.

“Thanks.” There was no emotion behind that word and PJ continues crocheting silently.

Frisk told Sans one time that one can tell what Paperjam’s feeling by looking at his left eye. Sans could see the eye clearly from his angle and sees the yellow shape alternating between a diamond and what looked like a raindrop.

A diamond he’s seen often, often when Paperjam gets irritated or upset. At times, a star would take shape instead, and that’s when he’s happy or content. There are times when it shapes into a heart around Aliza, obviously expressing love. There were other shapes Sans remembers seeing, such as circle (when frightened), an hourglass (when focusing or in thought), and a rhombus (when confused).

But the raindrop is a new one. Frisk never mentioned what that meant, probably because they’ve never seen it.

Though… Sans could probably guess what it means. He doesn’t know anything about PJ’s background, but whatever he said about crocheting must’ve brought up some unwanted memories.

Paperjam finishes the scarf and Sans actually pays Grilby for once. The two leave the establishment in silence. Tense silence for Sans as he conjures up an apology for unknowingly triggering PJ.

“Hey, kid. I-”

“Don’t.” PJ stops him. “I know you’re going to apologize, but there’s no reason why you should. I was… just being stupid, getting tense over a dumb compliment.” He chuckles sardonically.

“Still, I could tell it obviously upset you, and the last thing I want is for it to happen again. So, sorry PJ.”

They continue to walk together through the cold winter evening. The streets were mostly empty at this time, in this part of town, with the occasional car passing now and then, so it was mostly quiet. Mostly peaceful.

“I…” Sans was surprised to find it was Paperjam attempting to break the silence. “Crocheting… it’s… not really something I’m… proud of doing. It’s a talent I’ve… inherited, not something I developed out of interest. I just… have the ability. Art is the same but… I like doing it. I want to continue doing it, but crocheting…” Paperjam cradles his head as if he’s developed a headache, eyes twisted shut. “It’s not the talent I hate…b-but…”

“But the person you inherited it from?” Sans finishes for him.

Paperjam nods weakly, still cradling his head and holy shit this is the first he’s ever opened up on anything personal about himself. Sans does a short mental happy dance in his head because he sure not even the kids have made it this far. Right now though, he needs to comfort the ink skeleton and the poor kid looks to be tearing himself apart in the inside, his ink body distorting a little bit. He places a hand on his shoulder.

“I feel ya. Trust me. A lot of my abilities were inherited as well. Some abilities I’m not really proud of having. Papyrus is the same, but the difference between us is that I’m the only one who still remembers… and try as I might, I can’t…” Sans takes a deep breath. He takes his hand off and shoves them in his pockets. “I can’t fix something that’s already broken beyond repair.”

Second pass and PJ stares at him. He contemplates on something before speaking.

“We… see him sometimes.”

“What?” Sans stops walking and Paperjam does the same. PJ could see that the other was trying to form words, unsure if he heard right or not, so he continues to save the trouble.

“Sometimes Fresh and I would run into him, in the endless void. He’d be analyzing other universes and timelines, but occasionally, he would just stop and stare for hours looking at yours. Once, we asked him if he had any regrets, and he said no. He said that things will have a way of working themselves out, even if it means he’s out of the picture for good. And he was right. Things did work out for you guys in the end, so he feels his efforts weren’t a complete waste.”

PJ pauses and Sans remains silent. Sans could only ever feel Gaster’s presence, Frisk too (though they managed to see him once in one of the timelines, but it was brief), so hearing all this was new for him and honestly, it was a bit overwhelming.

“Say… there are probably things you still wish to tell him. Some questions you still have even? I dunno. But, if you want, I can take you to him. He’d probably like to hear from you-”

Paperjam was not prepared for the other skeleton to envelope him in a warm embrace, and he nearly dropped the shopping bags in the process. Bewildered, he just stood there, arms up, as Sans continues to hug him, in the empty streets. Soon, Sans realized his actions and pulls away quickly, laughing awkwardly.

“Sorry. I uh… heheh.” He clears his throat. “I’d like that. A lot. Thanks PJ.”

Paperjam nods, still in a bit of shock from the surprise hug. He hadn’t expected his words or his offer to uplift the skeleton at all. But it did, and knowing he was able to do that felt… nice.

“And hey, I know we got a bit off track, but you know, I just wanna say, we all got scars. We all got things we like to keep to ourselves. It’s not the healthiest thing to do, but we have our reasons to do it anyway. And I’m sure you’ve got your reasons too. But, if by chance you need someone to talk to, I’m all ears. So don’t hesitate to come to me.”

That oddly nice feeling is starting to swell. No doubt his eye is in the shape of a star, probably a little bigger too. It’s embarrassing, but he couldn’t help it. It’s nice… having someone to rely on. The only other person he could lean on at times was Fresh. Another person couldn’t hurt, he guesses.

“There’s one problem though,” PJ says, giving a mock-teasing grin. “You don’t have ears, bonehead.

“Hey. I don’t got lungs either, but I’m somehow able to breathe like everybody else.”

“You don’t got a lot of things.”

“Oh and you do? Well _color_ me _inked_ , I am _splattergasted_.”

“My god that’s terrible. I can’t _draw_ any context out of that.”

That gets a genuine laugh out of Sans. “Good one kid!”

Paperjam lightly punches his arm.

“And for the love of fuck I’m 23!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only the second chapter and already things are deep... Oh well! 
> 
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> 
> What sort of stuff do PJ and Fresh do online you ask? ~~Imagines them making youtube videos because you watch too much MiniLadd you need help~~ I dunno.
> 
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> 
> And to give an idea on the type of clothes PJ bought, here's the pic of the outfits I found that I thought were [super cute](http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1sMRuLpXXXXaaXpXXq6xXFXXX1/New-Fashion-Autumn-Winter-Dress-font-b-cape-b-font-font-b-coat-b-font-font.jpg)!!


End file.
